The numbers

Numbers are fun, especially when they make your case for
you. The numbers below will make the case fo the Chicago Fire Soccer Club's dominance in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup over the years...

Among Major League Soccer’s 16 teams, the Chicago Fire are
undisputed kings of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, hoisting the coveted Dewar
Trophy an MLS-record four times since 1998.

The number puts the Fire in a tie for second most all-time tournament
championships, just one behind the decade’s early power Bethlehem Steel (1915,
’16, ’18, ’19, ’26) and the mid 70’s, late 80’s juggernaut Maccabi Los Angeles
(1973, ’75, ’77, ’78, ’81).

** Along with hoisting the Cup more than any other MLS team,
the Fire also have the most wins in the tournament, coming away victorious 25
times since 1998.

** Head-to-head with MLS teams, the Fire hold a 15-4-1
record, while they’ve struggle much more with USL-1/A-League/USSF Division 2
level teams over the course of the competition, going a surprising 4-3-1 in
eight matches.

** For the purposes of Tuesday’s match, the Fire have a 4-1-0
record against USL-2/USISL Pro Select League sides with their sole loss coming
in last year’s 1-0 defeat to the Wilmington Hammerheads.

** The club has played just one PDL team in it’s 13-year
Open Cup history, defeating the Chicago Sockers 1-0 on July 25, 2000. It was a
valiant effort from the PDL side, check out the lineup the Fire put out for
that match:

** When leading at the half during Open Cup matches, the
club is a combined 11-1-1, with the single loss coming on July 8, 2008 against
DC United. The Fire’s Daniel Woolard put the club up 1-0 in the 36th
minute before a United equalizer from Francis Doe in the 77th minute
and Bryan Namoff’s 99th minute extra time winner.

** The stats get better when the Fire lead after the 75th
minute, having never lost, going 17-0-0. The club has made comebacks in six
matches with the first comeback coming in their first-ever Open Cup game, a 3-1
win over the Chicago Stingers. The
Fire have twice made multiple comebacks in the same year, recording two each in
the 2003 and 2005 US Open Cups. Check out all six Open Cup comebacks:

Date

Opponent

Location

Final Score

7/6/1998

Chicago Stingers (USISL
PSL)

Arlington Heights, IL

3-1 W

8/6/2003

Milwaukee Wave United
(A-League)

Milwaukee, WI

4-1 W

8/27/2003

Colorado Rapids (MLS)

Naperville, IL

2-1 W

7/20/2004

Columbus Crew (MLS)

Columbus, OH

2-1 W

7/13/2005

Western Mass Pioneers
(USL-2)

Ludlow, MA

3-1 W

8/3/2005

New England Revolution
(MLS)

Ludlow, MA

3-2 W

** Twenty-nine different players have scored for the Fire in
the tournament, with Josh Wolff’s seven U.S. Open Cup goals leading Fire
players all-time. Both Ante Razov and Andy Herron rank second with six
all-time.

** Only four current Fire players have scored a goal in the
US Open Cup. Calen Carr leads the way with four goals in the competition. The
others are Mike Banner (two), Justin Mapp (one) and C.J. Brown (one).

** Thirty Fire players have registered assists all-time with
the aforementioned Mapp tying Razov for the all-time lead at four a piece.

** Mapp is joined again by Carr as one of only four current
Fire players to register an assist in the tournament. The others are Peter
Lowry and Logan Pause.

** Only three Chicago Fire goalkeepers have registered wins
and shutouts in the tournament. Fire Original Zach Thornton leads the way with
17 victories and nine clean sheets, while Henry Ring ranks second with four
wins and two shut outs. Matt Pickens has one win to match his one clean sheet.

** Perhaps the most daunting statistic for tomorrow’s
opponent, the fact that the Fire have never lost an Open Cup match when lined
up as the home team, going 17-0-0 over games hosted all over Illinois and in
Wisconsin.

The Fire take on Charleston Battery TONIGHT at Toyota Park. Tickets are $15 and PARKING IS FREE! Tickets are still available, CLICK HERE